Sunday, May 14, 2006

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers, grandmothers, aunts, foster mothers. I'm too pooped to participate. The past three days have been brutal. Thursday, I spent five hours unloading trucks at Rutgers Gardens. They have a huge plant sale every year on Mother's Day weekend. Not just lovely hanging baskets and flats of petunias. They have TREES, shrubs, vines, enormous things in large, heavy pots. I don't recall being that tired in ages.

Fortunately, it finally rained on Thursday night. Fortunately, because Friday morning I was weeding the veggie plot for our project for the Master Gardener class. I can't imagine how impossible it would have been to try and pull weeds from ground that hadn't had rain in weeks. I'm in much better shape than I thought possible. I wasn't sore at all after Thursday's intense workout.

My hips were a little sore on Saturday, probably from all the bending, but I spent most of it sitting. I was cashiering for the Middlesex County Master Gardeners who had their own booth at the Rutgers Gardens sale. It was actually a lot of fun. I've discovered that I really enjoy public events. I had a blast working the Rutgers Gardens booth at the NJ Flower & Garden Show in February, and then last month I spent a fun afternoon at Ag Field Day at Cook College working the Master Gardener booth. Luckily, I ended up stationed at the flowers section. They are known for their veggies, but I know nothing about veggies. I was much better at selling flowers and answering questions about them. I found I could sell lots of flowers that attracted butterflies. Seems everyone is into butterfly gardening now.

Cashiering yesterday was fun. Everyone was very patient as I mastered the complex price list and tallied their purchases. And, of course, I answered lots of questions about flowers. I had my own question that no one could answer. Seems that everyone was buying white tomatoes but had never grown them before. My question is this: do white tomatoes taste different from red tomatoes?

Since it has finally rained, I should be outside digging that new bed in the front yard but I am just too tired to do more than photograph my flowers. I think these Johnny Jumps Ups have found a spot they like. I've never had any get quite so large.

I was pleased to see that the Japanese Painted Fern made it through the winter. It's lovely but in the wrong spot. It's happy here, but can't be seen well way in the back of the bed.

I'm enjoying my Common Sage. I've waited three years for these flowers. I love how light and airy they are. Up close they look a lot like Great Lobelia but as far as I know, the two are unrelated. I recently discovered that the William Guinness columbine is an heirloom and one of the very few hybrid columbines to come true from seed. I knew the part about coming true from seed already. It has spread prolifically in the Purple Garden. Speaking of columbine, remember the white columbine that I reluctantly moved from the Wildflower Garden? Not only did it survive the move, but it is thriving! It has continued to produce flowers. Last year, I transplanted a lot of iris at the wrong time, spring because I was clearing out the bed I use for the Orange/Yellow Garden. I had nowhere to put the iris, so I stuck it along the fence in the Wildflower Garden. Of course it didn't bloom last year. This year, it is doing very well and beginning to bloom. The first clump to bloom is white, a welcome change from all the purples and blues that are currently flowering.